The major function of absorbent articles such as disposable diapers and adult incontinent briefs, is to absorb and contain body exudates. Such articles are also intended to prevent body exudates from soiling, wetting, or otherwise contaminating clothing or other articles, such as bedding, that come in contact with the wearer. The most common mode of failure for such products occurs when body exudates leak out of the gaps between the article and the wearer's leg or waist to adjacent clothing because they are not immediately absorbed within the article. This is most evident with loose fecal material which is not easily absorbed by the absorbent article and tends to "float" on the top surface of the absorbent article.
Disposable diapers, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,003 issued to Kenneth Barclay Buell on Jan. 14, 1975, generally have topsheet, a backsheet, an absorbent core, and elasticized leg flaps that improve the diaper's ability to contain body exudates. However, despite the effectiveness of such structures, body exudates can leak through the leg flaps and soil the wearer's clothing because the diaper does not constrain the free flow of such material or provide a structure to hold it within the diaper so that as such material flows freely on the surface of the topsheet, it tends to work its way past the elasticized leg flaps. To improve the containment characteristics of diapers numerous different leg cuff configurations have been identified. An example of an absorbent comprising leg cuffs with improved containment characteristics are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,177 issued to DesMarais et al. on Feb. 28, 1989. These elasticized leg cuffs prove effective generally to prevent wicking and overflow from the fluid laden diaper to clothing contacting the edges of the diaper in that the elasticized leg cuffs present a liquid impervious barrier between the edge of the diaper and the contacting clothing, and in addition, provide a gasketing action about the legs of the wearer. However, such elasticized leg cuffs have the tendency to indent and mark the skin because the elastic force is concentrated along a narrow elastic band, resulting in high localized pressures. Although attempts have been made to address the problem of skin marking by utilizing wider elastics in the leg cuffs to reduce localized pressure where the cuffs contact the skin of the wearer, such attempts have not been completely successful. Because the distal edge of the cuff is not controlled, if the diaper is put on incorrectly or if the wearer moves, the elastics may be displaced from their optimum position for containment and comfort and the wide surface of the elastics may be presented at an angle or perpendicular to the skin. This results in the elastic force being concentrated at the edge of the elastic (or at the folded edge should the elastomeric buckle) rather than spread across the wide surface of the elastic. As such, the effectiveness of the cuff and its comfort may be substantially decreased leading to skin marking and irritation.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article which has improved comfort and containment characteristics.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a standing cuff which acts as a restraint against the leakage of body exudates without marking or irritating the skin of the wearer.
A further object of the present invention is to provide standing elasticized leg cuffs having a wide elasticized skin-contacting surface.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide elasticized leg cuffs wherein the edges of the wide elasticized region are controlled.
A still further object of the present invention is provide a wide elasticized skin-contacting surface which is presented parallel to the wearer's skin throughout the dynamic range of baby motions.